Bar Tag: Luke Ashton, This Must Be The Place

Bar Tag, Drink, Sydney / 10 August 2016

Tag, Luke Ashton. It’s your turn for Bar Tag!

Tag Luke Ashton, you’re it! On the second episode of Bar Tag we get to visit whiz bartender Luke Ashton at his bar This Must Be the Place in Darlinghurst. Luke was nominated by Toby Hiscox, from Casoni in episode one to come up with a cocktail using the key ingredient…winter melon.
Probably not something you’d usually across in Woolies, winter melon is a kind of gourd, technically a fruit but eaten as a vegetable when mature. A gourd based cocktail not sounding too appetising to you? Just wait and see what Luke comes up with. Indulging in The Gourd, The Bad and The Ugly cocktail may be the only time you plan on giving the elusive vegetable a try.

Opening their doors in February 2015, This Must Be The Place is still fairly young. With their loyal clientele, exciting cocktails and friendly, experienced bartenders however, they are truly thriving. The team is run by bartender extraordinaires Luke and his partner in crime Charlie Ainsbury. Both winners of the Diageo Reserve World Class Australia Bartender of the Year Award, they certainly know their stuff.
bar tag winter-melon-1
Whilst Luke makes a pretty mean winter melon cocktail here on Bar Tag, this isn’t the kind of melon they usually use at the bar. Their Kingfisher ($17) cocktail is a refreshing concoction of honeydew melon, kaffir lime leaf, tequila and cinnamon. Those ingredients sound familiar? With so many other innovative drinks on offer, it’s no wonder this upcoming bar is a hotspot for cocktail lovers.
Next week Luke has nominated Tim Phillips from Dead Ringer with the key ingredient of purple eggplant. We’re seeing a weird vegetable trend here. For those emoji users you may know what the purple eggplant is often used to represent. If not, you’ll have the Google that one for yourself. Stay tuned for that episode  next week!
bar tag winter-melon-cocktail
The Gourd, The Bad and The Ugly Recipe

Ingredients
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 60ml of frozen winter melon/cinnamon tea liquid
  • 45ml of frozen new season mandarin juice
  • 45ml bullet boubon
Method
  • Blend all ingredients together in blender
  • Pour liquid over ice and sprinkle ground winter melon seeds on top

This Must Be The Place
239 Oxford St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
9331 8063
Mon – Sun, 3pm-12am
http://www.tmbtp.com.au/